Alterniabound
by gokatyperry
Summary: Humanstuck! Follow our heroes as they face the trails of love, hate, passion, action, adventure, and a whole lot more. like pumpkins. (what pumpkin) Set in modern college setting. has some more adult material and themes scattered throughout. Will try and explore most of the characters and all the crazy shenanigans they find themselves in. Enjoy! t for now (change later if need be)
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys! So I know humanstuck and university life are well covered topics in the fandom…but hey. We luv it. So here's another one! Some things….**

**None of the Beta kids are directly related. Dirk and Roxy are Dave and rose's respective older siblings by 3 years. Jane is Jade's south of the border cousin, and Jake is John's older cousin. **

**These four are just starting their college careers, and the "trolls" have mostly been there from one to two years already. **

**At the beginning, none of the trolls know the beta kids, and out of the beta kids, only rose and Dave have met in person. They do however already know each other from an online gaming site. **

**Don't wanna spoil, but the story will most likely be rated m for a reason, (violent or potentially upsetting content and situations, and mayyyybbbbe some sexual content. We'll see ****) **

**Also, obvi the elements of homestuck will be cleverly worked into the story, but probably not in the same order or context as the original.**

**Finally, all characters belong to Andrew Hussie, and I own no part of Homestuck. (sadly)**

**Maybe this will give us all something to look forward to over the gigapause! **

John Egbert pushed his square glasses up as he stared out the window of his father's car, watching the trees race by. He smiled to himself as he thought about the excitement that this day entailed. Today was a very special day. Today, was his first day of college. Not only that, but today was the day he was going to meet his friends for the first time in person.

Now this may seem like a crazy suggestion to some. Most people meet friends in person to begin with. John did have a few friends at his old home, but his closest friends came from the internet. Rose Lalonde, Dave Strider, and Jade Harley were the three people in the world that John thought really got him. They had all actually first met in a session of COD zombies. It was a random meeting, and despite the amazing game, none had anticipated that they would ever meet again.

Less than one week later, they met again on an online gaming site. John had been casually checking out the chat logs on the site when he had recognized one of the other player's usernames. They quickly began talking and soon found both other players. They decided to reconnect over the brand new chat site Pesterchum. Soon, turntechGodhead, tentacleTherapist, ectoBiologist, and gardenGnostic became Dave, Rose, John, and Jade.

As it would turn out, Dave and Rose had ended up meeting one another through family connections. But today, was going to be their first collective meeting as a unit of four. John couldn't have been more excited.

His was shaken from his daze by the sound of his father's PDA going off. He glanced over at it, and then towards his father. The older man started to reach down towards the device.

"Leave it." John said. "You know what happens when people text and drive. Or PDA and drive."

His father let out a chuckle at that. "As you wish my heir."

There was a beat. The only sounds were the droll monotone voices that spoke on the radio. John sighed. His dad was always so business oriented. He remembered when he was young he thought that his father was a practical jokester. The revelation that he was just a humble business man had crushed him quite a bit. Despite this, John knew his father was a very good one.

"Are you excited to meet your friends?"

John perked up in his seat. His mood was almost always cheery. It was kind of his thing.  
"Yah I can't wait! It's like I know them. I mean, I do know them, but I feel like I really know them! Ya know? It's like…..we were all meant to be best friends! Like how Nic Cage was always supposed to find that rabbit on the streets to give to his young daughter in a heartbreaking reunion. It just had to happen."

Apparently, rambling was John's thing too. (Did this kid ever run out of breathe?)

"I guess what I'm trying to get at here, is that I am really, really excited."

"Alright then. I am glad we could establish such a well-rounded train of thought."

"Me too dad, me too."

The conversation rapped up as they approached the campus. John's jaw dropped as they approached the humongous complex that was "Alterniabound State College."

The main schools, the Andrew Hussie memorial Dining Hall, the Sburb technology center, Wayward and Peregrine housing (further divided into black and white houses), the Ms. Paint art center, the Spades Night Club, it was all just so overwhelming.

"Where did your friends say they were going to meet you again?"

"Outside of Wayward housing,"

"How are you going to know it's them?"

John smiled. "Trust me dad. I'll know."

The car slowly pulled into the parking lot across from the housing complex. Students bustled past. Some were meeting up with old friends and touring campus, and others were trying to move in last minute. John had opted to move in earlier. It was just easier to go knowing that his room was already set up and ready to go. He had yet to meet his roommate, but he hoped that whoever he was, he'd be a cool guy.

John was situated in the white sector of Wayward. He often thought that the "white and black" classification might not have been the most socially acceptable way of splitting up the houses, but apparently from overhead the arrangement of the houses in this way made it look like a chessboard.

John said goodbye to his father and gave him a long farewell hug. His father hovered near the car, watching John closely to make sure he found his friends. He would only leave once he was absolutely sure.

John looked around in front of the main building. He scanned the oncoming students for anyone who could potentially be who he was looking for. One young man caught his attention.

He stood aloof against the side wall of the building. His white shirt boasted a scratched record symbol and red sleeves that matched his red converse. His black jeans were fitted perfectly to his skinny boy physique. One leg was pushed up against the wall and his hands were in his pockets as he listened to whatever was coming out of his large retro headphones. Dark shades covered his face. His blonde hair blew slightly in the breeze. Everything about this kid screamed "cool guy."

John didn't even take a moment to contemplate a non-creepy way of approaching. Instead he sauntered over without a second thought, waving maniacally as he went. The boy looked over slowly, remaining perched against the wall. He slowly pulled his headphones down around his neck.

"Hey, I don't mean to bug you, but you wouldn't happen to be Dave Strider would you?"

The kid moved off the wall to stand up straight. "The one and only." His voice is like silk, unlike John's still childish one.

"Awesome! I can't believe I'm finally meeting you!"

"Yah I am pretty amazing to meet. Like a hundred other people already had fangirl attacks over me. They were all like oh it's that aloof cool guy Dave Strider! How can we even handle to be in the presence of such a cool guy?"

A voice sounded from behind John. "Oh yah, the guy with a blog. How riveting." He turned to look at the source of the voice. He was greeted by a smirking blonde in a black skirt and white t shirt with what looked like a purple squiddle on it. A pink scarf accentuated her lavender eyes.

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you John." She continued.

"Yah this is so great! Rose right?"

"Indubitably."

"Have any of you seen Jade yet?" Dave inquired.

"Not yet no." Rose answered while John shook his head.

"Huh. I swear this girl has more crazy shenanigans than any of us. It's like she's lost in space sometimes. And not in like that lame movie way."

John smiled. "Well, I'm sure we will meet up with her soon enough."

Rose sat down on the bench next to where Dave was standing and crossed her legs. "Dave, have you seen Roxy or Dirk yet?"

"I haven't seen either of them, but bro said to meet him in the main caf of this building once we got our shit together."

"Bro goes here? Oh my gosh I've always wanted to meet him! Why didn't you mention he was going here? I read his Gamebro mag allll the time!" John said, practically jumping with joy.

"Example A of why I didn't say anything. You're prancing around like a lil' puppy, all excited n shit. Wouldn't want you to have that kinda reaction unsupervised. Might fly out of the window like a stabbed crow."

"I've actually admired some of your Brother's work Dave." Rose chimed. "He's quite the entrepreneur."

Dave scoffed. "Yah, it's easier to like his shit when you aren't surrounded by gross puppet proboscis all the time. It's like, all I wanna do is get some milk from the fridge and I walk in on some cheezy porno."

"Don't diss the puppets Dave. DON'T DISS THE PUPPETS."

"Ok man. Maybe I'll just rap about it. Alright here I go, puppets and smuppets clogging all my hallways, wriggling around asking what's up these days. Can't control the "

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The group stopped listening to Dave's epic rap to greet an enthusiastic young woman coming their way.

"I'd know you guys anywhere!"

"JADE!"

Jade scooped John into a tight excited hug. "Hello John! I'm so glad to meet you!"

Dave leaned over to Rose and mumbled a quick "wow she's fucking excitable" before being scooped up into an unrequited hug.

"And mahh cool dude Dave! You're taller than I pictured."

"I'm a beast. The fact that anyone could expect less is shocking."

Jade slapped his arm slightly. "Oh shush Dave."

Rose got up to give Jade a proper hug. Once they broke apart Jade excitedly informed them of the news.

"So as if today wasn't exciting enough, not only do we get to meet each other, buuuuuutt..drum roll please."

Rose and Dave exchanged skeptical glances while John did his best to make a drumming sound effect.

"Dirk and Roxy are here, and Jane and Jake are too!"

"Jake's here?" John wondered. "How did I not know that? He's my cousin."

"Probably too wrapped up in your shitty Nicholas Cage and Matt Mcaunghanoonecares movies."

"Those movies are classics Dave"

Rose ran a hand through her blond hair. "Well, now that our (air quotes) shit is in order, why don't we proceed to meet them all in the cafeteria?"

"Great idea Rose, but I got a better one. " Dave said with a smirk. "Now that we got our shit together, why don't we go meet up with bro and company so we can have massive shitty swordfights and bond over their weird hatred of Betty Crocker? Maybe while we bond we can end up in a shitty puppet remake of some stupid movie like titanic."

"or con air."

"no."

"yes."

Dave rolled his eyes, and despite the fact that no one could see his eyes, they all seemed to know that's what he was up to. "Let's get this shitfest over with so I can start laying down some sick beats."

Jade linked arms with the boy, much to his surprise. "Don't be such a party pooper. This is going to be the best year ever."

John smiled over at Rose and held out his arm. She linked her arm with his. "When in Alterniabound…"

"HAHAHA…I don't get it."

The four made their way into the main café. Students filled almost every nook and cranny of the building. There were multiple small vendors on all walls, and tables filling the rest of the space. John wondered how they'd ever find the others in such a crowd. Dave and Rose knew however knew exactly where to go. At the far end of the cafeteria there was a small almost hidden door. On it rested a sign saying "employees only." John and Jade were skeptical to pass, but Rose and Dave didn't hesitate. The door opened to reveal a small hallway leading to the campus coffee shop's employee lounge. Roxy and Jane were both employees there, and had offered up the back room as a hangout for their closest friends. This was the secluded destination in which the eight were destined to gather.

When the four kids strolled casually into the room they were greeted by a very enthusiastic blonde.

"HEY guyssssss! Uhh I am sooo…glad you could make it!" She led them over to the main table, where three other individuals were sitting.

Dirk shared Dave's obsession with shades, but his were pointy anime shades. He was taller, and more muscular than his younger brother as well, and wore a dark tank that accentuated his physique. His final accessory was an orange baseball cap.

Roxy could have been Rose's identical twin, except for her slightly more promiscuous attire, and that she practically spoke like a drunk Jersey wife all the time.(even when sober) Her shirt casually rested on her shoulders, leaving her collarbones and the straps of her pink camisole exposed. Yoga pants demonstrated her toned leg muscles and disappeared into pink high-top converse.

Jane was the perfect Southern lady. She wore humble attire, a knee length teal skirt and casual shirt. She shared many characteristics with Jade, but had a slightly rounder face. Jane had been born in Tennessee, but Jade was born in Maine. Their mother had a business meeting up there, and despite being very, very pregnant, she knew she needed to go. Jade was very sick when she was born, and had to remain up North, as travel would have been too much stress for her. She ended up living with her grandfather for a few years in her youth, while her mother went back down to take care of Jane. The years of separation had taken a toll on the family as a whole, so their mother proposed that they move up to Maine to be with Jade. However, at this point, Jane was already accepted into one of the most prestigious youth culinary schools in the nation, and as a family they decided it was best if she continued her studies. Once Jade was healthy enough, the family would fly back and forth to see one another. However, they never collectively lived together.

Jake, minus his hair and glasses shape, looked almost nothing like John. Instead of being lanky and goofy looking, he was a muscular adventure loving guy. He tended to wear shorts no matter what time of year it was. He was no stranger to danger. If there was ever another remake of Indiana Jones, Jake could certainly play him.

Dave slid into the seat next to Bro. "Alright. Let's get this meeting started."

Dirk began. "Let's start with some basic rules. Rule number one. Stay away from anyone in the black houses."

"Why?" John questioned.

Jake was quick to the response. "Trust me my nieve cousin, no good can come from association with them. They are nothing but a world of trouble."

Jade wasn't too keen on the aspect of having to avoid making friends. "We can't just avoid them. There are so many! And that seems kind of mean anyway."

"It may seem mean darlin'," Jane began, "but that's because you are taking it the wrong way."

"Yah," Dirk continued, "You can't avoid them, that's just impossible and stupid. You just shouldn't make friends with them. They tend to be a real riff raff crowd with lots of trouble following them."

"Have you ever attempted to forge and acquaintance with any of them, or is this just some typical stereotype based sheerly off of some competitive nature between the sectors?" Rose inquired.

Jake answered. "We actually did make friends with some of them our first year. They were all in graduate school when we began."

"Let's just say that our lives are much simpler now without their influence."

John, Jade, Rose, and Dave were all a little put off by their families secrecy. What kind of trouble had they gotten into?

"Hey Roxy, You've been real quiet. What's with that? Usually you're like a chattering hog monkey."

The blonde girl's eyes immediately lit up. "That…" she pointed wildly at the group, "is because I have been waiiiting for alllll of this drama bomb ish to be over with so we could get to the good stuff."

"Oh boy," Jake muttered, exchanging a concerned glance with Jane.

"Because tonight is the first night of our new semester of tortuuree." She leaned over the table excitedly, "there's going to be a killller partay at the Spades Night Club. Aand because its technically off campus, as long as nobody gets themselves shot, we can do whatever Weee WANNTTTT!"

Jade raised her hand meekly, as if afraid to interrupt Roxy's excited speech. "Um, I'm not really much of a partyer."

This earned a laugh from Roxy. "That's aiight gurl, but you should go anyway. Everyone who is anyone is gunna be there."

Jade looked at the rest of the members of the table. "It's true." Dirk said with a nod.

"Look, you don't have to drink anything, just go and hang out." Dave began. He nodded towards John. "Besides, I doubt this kid will wanna party anyway, so you'll have him as company."

"HEY! I for one happen to love partying." John rebutted.

"Suuure." Rose said, raising her eyebrows skeptically.

"so it's like totes settled then!"

Jane rose from her seat in agreement, "That sounds about right. We have to head back over to the room anyway and get some things sorted out, but we'll see ya'll later!"

Dirk rose silently from his seat and nodded to the group before beckoning Jake to follow.

"I suppose that's it for me then too. I think I hit all the important points. Tata for now."

"Wait," John protested, "We only talked about like…..two things."

"That's because for now, that's all you need to know about. We can catch up later and I'll regale you with the thrills of my many adventures." With that, the older kids had left.

"It would most likely be advisable that we head back to our rooms and situate ourselves as well. I guess, we can meet up again at the party?"

"Sure." Dave agreed.

"Wait, they didn't exactly say what time to be there?"

_Bring!_

Jade took her phone out of her pocket to reveal a message from Jane.

**You should plan to arrive for 9. We can meet you at the entrance: p**

"Why don't we do dinner before so we can catch up and then head over together?" Jade suggested.

"YAH!"

"Why not."

"Sure man."

"Ok! I saw this cute little Italian-American joint next to the Hussie Memorial Hall. Wanna eat there?"

The group agreed, and began to head off to their dorms. They headed out the back door of the main building and into the housing complex. The houses were intermingled and layered out vertically from their current position. Graduate students had top priority and got the houses closes to campus. Undergrads had to head further down the line. Boys and girls were split up among the houses, girls receiving even numbered houses, and boys odd.

Rose and Jade were roommates in white house 42. They departed from the boys and promised to text them so they could meet up later.

"Huh, that's neat that they are roommates."

"Yah. Now they can spend their nights braiding each other's hair and talking about the heartthrobs of Alterniabound."

John chuckled at this. "So what building are you in? I'm white 43, so this one over here." He gestured to the white house next to the adjacent white one Rose and Jade were in.

"I'm convinced you're totally trying to steal my mad swag John. Going to the same school as me, and now living in the same house? Shenanigans."

"Yes that is totally what is going on here. But what room are you?!"

"B13"

John clasped his hands to his face excitedly. "Oh my gosh! That's my room!"

"I guess that makes us roommates then. Just try not to go all physco like the chick in that movie and steal my identity or anything alright?"

"Deal!"

Your name is John Egbert, and today is the best day of your life.

Your name is Dave Strider, and today, while you are externally maintaining a cool outer persona, inside you are so happy you want to do acrobatic fucking pirouettes of the handle.

But you won't. Because that just wouldn't be ironic enough.

Yet.

**Homestuck**

**End Chapter one.**

**(Curtains close dramatically)**

**Well anyway….that was just the intro so no real plot yet. (or was there….) hope you like it so far.**

**Also, I LOVE comments, and if you have any cool suggestions or things you wanna see feel free to leave em. I may try and work em into the story if I can. I have like 95 percent of everything I want mapped out, but im always looking for some new ideas and stuffs! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Ascend **

"So like, what are we even supposed to do at this party?" John asked, fiddling with his fingers. He lay on his bed, staring upward at the ceiling. There was a beat of silence. He looked over to his roommate and found him at his turntables with his headphones plugged in. John decided to just ask again later.

Dave however, didn't leave his turntables until it was time to leave to meet up for dinner.

Once the four had gathered and settled in, they decided it was best to compare schedules. Rose and Dave shared Gen Bio II. They both had achieved grades that allowed them to skip over the intro to Bio and Bio 1 course, but still were required to take one bio class.

All four shared an introduction to cultural studies. It was a new course being offered this year, and could be used as a replacement for basic writing one, which all four had opted to do.

"This will be great!" jade began. "We can have study sessions together!"

"Yah. It'll be like fucking Christmas."

The four laughed as the waiter brought over their meals. Once he left, three of the companions began to rapidly dig into their meals. One however, had their mind elsewhere.

Dave looked up from his dinner and saw Rose leaning back in her chair, arms folded. She seemed rather distracted by something,

"Hey, you not hungry or something?"

His question pulled her out of her stupor and she shook her head, moving to lean forward on the table. "I am rather hungry, it's just that I was thinking,"

"About?" John pressed.

"What Roxy and the others said earlier. Or rather, what they didn't say."

Jade cocked her head to the side. "I assume you're talking about the whole black house thing?"

"Yes." She folded her arms in frustration. "I just can't shake the feeling that there was much more to the story than simple tension. There is definitely more to their story. Some pressing reason why they so desperately want us to avoid the black houses."

"They were being really weird about it." John agreed.

Dave shrugged. "If it were really necessary for us to know, they'd tell us."

"Do you really believe that?"

"Yes Rose I do. " Dave quipped. "Bro would make sure I knew everything I needed to in order to make it. So apparently it isn't important that we know all the details."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Are you truly so thick – headed that you can't comprehend what is practically smacking you right in the face?"

John put his hands up, trying to soothe the growing tension. "Hey…come on now guys. Let's not fight."

Jade nodded. "It's our first night together and I'd rather not ruin it with pointless fighting."

Dave turned his attention back to his meal. "Fine. Rose, if you wanna pursue this stupid thing, be my guest. Until you're being berated by missiles or meteors or some shit, I'm staying out of it."

There was an awkward silence as Dave and Rose picked at their food while John and Jade glanced nervously between them. John attempted to break the silence.

"So this party…..uh…gunna be pretty awesome?"

"It'll probly be alright at best. They couldn't quite handle having DJ Strider behind the table, but it should still turn out ok."

Jade's eyes lit with interest. "Do you make your own beats, or just remix?"

"I do a little of both. Most of my stuff ends up under some smooth raps I scrounge up."

"And would you ever want to go professional"

"You didn't catch that earlier? I already am. DJ Strider. I don't have my own little station or anything yet, but I'm an up and coming artist."

"WOW! I'd love to hear some of your stuff! We've technically been friends for years and I haven't heard any of it."

John managed to get a word in. "I've only heard one, but it's really good!"

"It's alright I guess." Dave agreed indifferently. "Bro's stuff is better. That and smuppets are like his thing. I'm still trying to find something that says," he moved his hands as if to show his name in lights, "Dave Strider."

Jade assured him that he would surely do something uniquely him when the time came.

The rest of the meal was spent laughing over old internet jokes and discussing how they thought the year would go. Once it was time to go, John had begun to whine about it. Parties weren't his thing. Well, these kinds of parties weren't. He'd never drank a drop in his life, and he'd heard so many stories about parties gone wrong. To top it off, he hardly knew anyone there yet. When he brought this up, Rose suggested that it would be a good way to meet new people, but John wasn't so sure he'd like the people he met.

"Look, just go, spend some time, and if you don't like it, we can leave. " Dave suggested.

"Ughhh Fine." John agreed.

Jade, despite being outwardly skeptical about attending, was actually kind of excited. She had always been too focused on school to attend any parties before, and even though she was perceived as a sweet innocent girl, she was actually kind of a rebel.

They met their older companions at the entrance to the club. There was a huge sign above the glass doorway that led to the waiting room. It flashed the words "Spades Night Club", with smaller letters under it saying "Featuring The Midnight Crew." The four main houses of cards flashed next to it.

"Who's the Midnight Crew?" John asked.

"They are a local popular music group. I actually like their music." Jake answered. The quiet glance between the older kids and the slight hesitation before answering didn't go unnoticed by all.

Dave and Dirk made their way into the club, followed nervously by Jade and John. Jane and Jake walked behind them, urging them forward.

"It'll be fine. You'll enjoy yourselves!" Jane assured.

Roxy jumped up and prepared to run into the club, but Rose had other plans. She grabbed her sister's scarf, nearly chocking her.

"He…Hey! What do you think you aer* are doin little missie?"

"Of course you are intoxicated right now."

"Well yahh it isssa partayyy."

"Look, I really require your assistance right now."

"Why do you always tkl *talk with such big words? I know you can use slam..sma….slma *tiny words."

"And I know that you can understand my extensive vocabulary. I need you to tell me why we should avoid the black houses, and whatever you all know about the Midnight Crew. I know that there is more to the story than what you have already told us."

Roxy laughed and patted Rose on the back, a little too hard. Rose flinched away slightly.

"Listen girlfriend," She threw her arm around her younger sister and began to lead her into the club. "There ain't nothing goin on that you need to worry about. Just don't ask no questions and stay outta trouvle. Trouble."

Rose through her hands into the air. "I need to know how to stay out of trouble! And what kind of trouble could I possibly get into?"

Unfortunately for Rose, throwing her hands into the air meant releasing Roxy, who darted laughing into the club.

"Great." Rose muttered. She followed reluctantly into the club. The room was extremely dark. There was a bar on the far left, and far right of the room. The beginning of the room held all the tables for eating, while the furthest end had a stage and dance floor. The Stage was currently dark unoccupied except for a single DJ in the center. Dirk. Go Figure.

Strobe lights illuminated the Dance floor in a manner that was sure to cause epileptic seizures. Students thrashed around wildly. Rose surveyed the room. Dave leaned against the far wall, expressionless. Jade, Jane, and Jake were all on the dance floor. John had seated himself at a table close to the door. Rose slid in next to him.

"Not dancing? I honestly pictured you as quite the partyer."

"I am, just, I feel so out of place right now."

"Yes, I understand your sentiments. But we should still try and have a good time."

John was about to suggest getting a drink when a loud blonde crashed into the table, her now empty glass falling to the floor. "OMG. Lol."

Rose sneered in disapproval of her sister's wasted-ness.

"So. I know you have bene…ben..been" She widened her eyes. "I know you wanted to know stuff…so here you go." She slid in real close. "You see the guys over there?"

John perked up and rapidly tried to see who she could have been referring to.

"Roxy, there are a lot of guys here."

"Ughhhh" She rolled her eyes and pointed to the corner of the stage.

Hidden in the shadows were four men, each dressed in a dark suit and accompanying hat. They looked like they could be straight out of an Al Capone movie.

"That there is the Midnight Crew."

Rose looked closer at the men in question. One was a tall muscular guy with a stern face. Another was tall and lanky. He smoked a cigarette and looked rather indifferent. The third guy was a bit of a runt. He looked like a friendly guy to be truthful. He rested on a fancy cane.

It was the last man of the group that drew on rose's suspicion. He was tall and lanky as well, but there was something sinister about him. He had a nasty scar over his left eye. But it wasn't really the scar that made her uneasy. It was just him. The way he leaned against the wall, eyes narrowed. Something was up with this guy.

Jane soon came to the rescue and pulled the intoxicated blonde away from Rose and John. Once she was gone, Rose turned back to John.

"I get a very bad feeling from those guys."

John nodded in agreement. "I do too, but I dunno, Jake said that they looked pretty narly, but that was really just an act. He said that they usually do like a 1920's Chicago kind of thing. He also said that we should avoid talking to them because they can be kind of snappy and rude."

Rose sighed. Obviously her investigation wasn't going anywhere tonight.

She got up from her seat and went over to the bar, purchasing two drinks. She returned to the table and passed one to John.

"Bottoms up."

**End ch. 2 **

**So what do you think so far? Honest opinions please**


	3. Chapter 3

**Ch 3 **

**So just a heads up, the first few chaps focus on the kids. The story will then shift to the trolls. So if ur in it for them….keep reading. They will come. And than after them…well….ull see lol**

**And oh my beautiful reviewers. How I love you so 3 friendship is magic! Haha wait…wrong fandom**

There weren't many things that John didn't like about his schedule, except for his 8 am English. Technically, it was cultural studies, but essentially it was just English. He and Dave arrived at 7 :45 and found Rose and Jade already claiming a table.

"It's too early for this." John whined.

Rose set her book bag on the table in front of her. "At least this class shows promise."

John cocked his head to the side in confusion. Dave broke it down. "She means at least it might be interesting."

"Oh yah ok. It could be cool I guess."

"Not as cool as me." Jade laughed at Dave's comment. "Of course not. No one is."

John glanced around the room. This was a full class, with probably almost 30 students. The room buzzed with noise as the students shared stories of their wild adventures and hook ups from the night before. This went on until shortly after 8, when the conversation shifted to one focused on the presence of their teacher.

One boy spoke up loudly. "The first day and the teacher's not on time. Howw much more pathetic can it get."

Some of his classmates laughed while others acknowledged the sentiment. A slow clapping broke the din. The room turned their attention to a man seated in the back of the room smiling ever so slightly.

"What a lovely assessment young man, but I am already here."

The boy pushed his glasses back up and folded his arms against his chest, sliding down in his chair in embarrassment.

The mysterious man continued in his whimsical tone. "Now if I may I'd like to call your attention to the board so we can start this lesson." He moved gracefully to the front of the room and picked up a whiteboard marker. He began scrawling out something on the board.

John squinted and tried to read whatever it was he was writing. He leaned over to Rose.

"Can you read that?" He hushed out. She shook her head and squinted harder.

Another boy with a scratchy voice raised his hand, but when the teacher didn't turn around he spoke up. "Um. Excuse me sir but no one can read what you're writing."

The man turned to the group. "Is that so?"

The class shrugged, nodded, and hummed in agreement. The man seemed to be considering something for a moment before he turned back to the board. "I guess you'll just have to pay extra attention when I lecture."

Needless to say, everyone rushed out of the class as soon as it was over.

"Geez what was that guys problem?" Dave asked, sneering back slightly.

"He's really full of himself." Answered Jade. "I think he just likes to hear himself talk."

"He's very knowledgeable though."

"Figures you'd like him Rose." Dave glanced casually in her direction.

"I never said that I liked him, I only stated that he holds a great deal of knowledge."

"Alright well whatever." He flipped his hair. "And why can't you just talk like a normal person. Like, whats with all the pretense?"

"Why are you constantly nagging me?"

John and Jade moved up to casually separate the two. For some reason they had been down each others throats since they met. The four split up to head to their next classes. Jade went with Rose, and John with Dave.

"Dude, why have you been hounding on Rose so hard?"

Dave shrugged. "Cuz she just puts up such pretense. It's like, we are supposed to be her best friends, so why does she have to constantly try and act like this sassy closed off person? I mean, she's practically like my sister and yet she just doesn't act like it."

"Maybe that's just how she is?"

"yah."

"She'll loosen up I bet."

"k, well I'll see you later."

John wasn't quite done with the discussion, but Dave had begun waking the other way. The two exchanged goodbyes and moved on to their next classes.

John walked hesitantly into his world history class. He glanced around for a place to sit and found a seat next to a boy he recognized from English. It was the one with the scratchy voice. He sat leaning against the table, his head resting on folded arms. John smiled and hopped into the seat next to the boy.

"Hey! I recognize you from my English class!"

The other boy slowly turned his head and glared over at John. He stared at John's goofy grin for a moment before putting his head down again. John began unpacking his bag and continued unphased.

"So what did you think of our English teacher?"

The other boy let out a distressed sigh and slammed his hands on the table. "Why are you still talking?"

John flinched slightly. "I was only trying to be nice."

The other boy's eyes widened with rage. "Did I honestly look like I wanted to have someone talk to me? I was sitting here, face down on the desk minding my own business, and you honestly thought I wanted to be bothered? What kind of a dipshit do you take me for?"

"Alright alright I'm sorry," John responded, eyes wide. "You don't have to yell."

The dark haired boy folded his arms and sat back in his seat, facing away from John. John shrugged and sighed and turned his attention to the front of the room.

_I'll get to him eventually. He's probably just having a bad day._

* * *

Dave slid into his art class silently and quickly claimed a seat in the back. Each desk was equipped with a built in IPAD that could be raised up out of the desk much like a laptop. The class itself didn't focus on one particular aspect of art, but rather the entire theme, history, and multiple forms of expression. Dave had an interest in things of the creative nature, and figured the course would suit him well.

He opened up the IPAD and began fooling around with it. Other students had begun filing in, and one took the seat next to him. He didn't look up to acknowledge any of them, rather continued investigating the device. After a few minutes there was a tap on his shoulder.

"Hey coolkid, is this you?"

Dave looked over to see a young girl with pointy red shades smiling devilishly at him. She held up an IPAD with a picture of a young boy from the 80's standing over a boom box attempting to look cool. Red glasses were sketched halfway off of his face.

"The fuck is that?"

"You."

"No it isn't."

The girl dragged her hand across the screen, changing it to a similar picture of a different boy. This time the glasses were placed around his neck.

"What about this?"

"No."

She flipped it again to a picture of Owen Wilson. This time the glasses were in place.

"Close, but that's still not me."

The girl scrunched her eyebrows up. "Hmm…..I've got it. " She changed the screen again.

"This. This has got to be you man."

This time, it was a gif of a young boy dancing badly across the floor. The shades remained in place in all but one frame where they suddenly got left behind as the boy danced away.

Dave shook his head and suppressed a laugh. "Do you have like a million of these fucking things already made up?"

"If I answer will you tell me if that's you or not?"

"Fine."

The girl put the IPAD down. "I just made like 10. And I am convinced this last one is you cool kid."

Dave raised one eyebrow. "Damn. Ya got me."

The girl's eyes lit up. "HEHEHE I knew it!"

"So what the fucks up with the glasses being all over the place? Is shitty ass Photoshop your special talent or what?"

"I did the best I could ya know. Blarghhh."

"Wait, so they weren't fucked up on purpose?"

The girl waved her hands in front of her face wildly. "No I'm blind! A durrrr durr durr"

Dave's jaw nearly dropped. "What like really? Then why the fuck are you in an art class?"

"I need an art credit." She said indifferently. "What's your name anyway?"

"Dave. Dave Strider."

The girl looked back at him saying nothing.

"What?" Dave asked.

"Ughhh" the girl groaned. "Aren't you going to ask who I am?"

Dave shrugged. "Sure I guess. Who are you?"

"Terezi. Terezi Pyrope."

"that's a weird name."

"hehehe"

* * *

"Hi there!"

Jade waved down at a shy looking boy. He glanced up and waved awkwardly back.

"Ugh…hi." Jade sat down next to him, still smiling.

"My name's Jade. You looked kind of lonely, so I figured I'd come say hi."

The boy looked down at his hands as he fiddled with his thumbs slightly. "Hi ugh…yah I guess I kind of was lonely. I'm Tavros…just in case you were wondering."

"well it's very nice to meet you Tavros. I like your hair." Tavros reached up and touched his soft brown locks gently.

"you do? It's not anything special…."

"Well I like it."

Tavros looked up a Jade meekly. "Thanks. I uh….i like your glasses?"

Jade laughed and put her arm on his. "I think we are going to be good friends." He smiled back and nodded happily at this. Jade turned and continued. "Speaking of friends, you should meet one of mine!" She leaned back in her seat so Tavros could see who she was sitting next to. "She's been unusually quiet."

"Rose?"

Rose was sitting with her hand in her palm looking off towards the other end of the class.

Jade tapped her hesitantly. "Um Rose? You ok?"

Rose snapped out of her daze and turned Jade and Tavros. "Sorry, I just got lost in my thoughts for a moment."

Jade introduced Tavros and Rose nodded courteously to him.

The teacher had walked in moments ago and was now trying to gain the classes attention. The three turned forward to listen, but Jade leaned over to Rose and whispered, "What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing." Rose said, returning her attention to its previous occupant. Jade pretended to accept the answer, but followed Rose's gaze.

She scanned the area for anything that Rose may have been looking at. There was an assortment of flowers on the windowsill. They were pretty, but Jade knew Rose wouldn't be so distracted by that. She continued looking. Nothing over there would have been holding Rose's attention that Jade could see. There were just some desks and students sitting quietly.

Jade stopped her gaze on one of the students. She was beautiful and had quite the sense of fashion. Jade especially liked her long red skirt with black lace designs layered over it. She would have to remember to tell her that sometime.

* * *

_**Days later…..but not many**_

Your name is Naafir Rafiki. You just moved here from Ghana a few months ago, where you had lived your entire life. You do not speak any English.

You like to help out around town and especially the school. You help in the planning and construction of many of the buildings on and off campus. Though you cannot speak to the other workers and volunteers, you can draw. Those who you interact most with affectionately call you "The Mayor" or sometimes just Mayor. When someone asked you if that was ok, you made a makeshift sash to show how much you liked it. You didn't have much money, so you took a mayo label and drew an R at the end in red crayon. Everyone loves your sash.

Tonight you are out for a walk with your two closest friends from the foreign exchange program. To your right is Perim from Latvia, who works as a part time mail-lady. The position was much more important in Latvian culture than American, but she still loved the job. She spoke much more English than you and offered to try and teach you some if you wanted. You like to try and learn the language, but not use it. You really aren't much of a talker anyway.

To your left is Amir. He is also from Ghana, but has been here for a few years. He is a bit of a tough guy, but he managed to open his heart to you and Perim.

The three of you were currently passing Spades night club. It had closed early this evening, but people still hung out there ; mainly the Midnight Crew. You didn't particularly like them, but as long as you kept to your business they left you alone. They were currently clustered in the ally, discussing something. You nod to your friends that you wish to switch sides of the street a while before you reach their alleyway. They agree and the three of you shift over, eyes never leaving Slick and his crew.

Four other kids are making their way towards you, but on the opposite side of the street. They are laughing and strolling by without a care in the world. Just As they were passing the alleyway, the Midnight Crew was leaving. You gasp when Jack slams straight into the boy in the blue sweatshirt.

Perim stops you and the three of you watch nervously from across the street.

"Hey! Watch where you're goin kid!" You hear Jack from across the way. Amir begins to take a step towards the group, worried that the kids might be in some kind of trouble. Perim stops him and shakes her head no.

He grunts and remains. You see the biggest member of the Crew moving towards the kids. Panic clogs your senses.

"Look we don't want any trouble."

"We already apologized. It was an accident!"

"Really, we didn't mean anything. We will be more careful next time!"

You watch Jack call off his team.

"Don't be so careless next time. You might run into some real nasty creatures." He gruffs out. You sigh as the kids hurry away.

Jack looks around and notices you three watching him. You pretend to not be paying attention, but you know he isn't fooled.

He calls out. "Hey Mayor. Best be taking your friends home now. The night is a dangerous place."

You wave and hurry your friends away.

Once you get back to your room, Perim admires your latest project. You like to take old cans and reuse them for a multitude of different purposes. When they are not being occupied by other tasks, you set them up in buildings. You made a whole town already, with a City Hall, School, grocery store, mall, and other houses. Amir likes to put little toys people or animals in the structures to help make the town more complete.

The three of you crack open some tabs and play some more. It's kind of childish, but none of you complains.

* * *

**Next day**

_3 Warehouses burn to ground in mysterious fires._

_Violence on the rise?_

_Meteor shower tonight._

Rose sipped her coffee and put the morning's paper down on the table.

"Don't you find it a bit interesting that we have that encounter with The Midnight Crew the same night that those fires occurred?"

"Do you really think they are related?" Jade asked.

"Yes."

John pretended to faint. "OH THE CONSPIRACY!"

The four kids were seated in the front of the campus coffee shop. Roxy and Jane were currently working, and unbeknownst to the kids, listening in on their conversation.

"Strange shit like that happens all the time. Don't worry about it." Roxy called from behind the counter.

Dave nodded in agreement. "Seriously. It's best just not to get involved. Wait, whats that about a meteor shower?"

Rose slid him the paper and pointed to the headline explaining the nights shower. John suggested they stay up and watch it, to which everyone agreed.

As it would turn out, the campus had orchestrated a meeting place for anyone who wanted to watch the shower to come, socialize, and get some snacks on the track field. They decided that they would rather just hang out and watch it as their little group.

That night, they lay sprawled out on the hillside behind the caf, and watched the celestial bodies stream across the dark sky.

They had grown silent for a bit, just watching. Rose looked over at Dave next to her. It was practically the middle of the night and he still had his shades on. She had some theories about why he never took them off, but in the end she just accepted that it was just how he was.

"Hey Dave?"

"Yah?"

"I'm sorry that things have been rough between us lately. I am just really stressed out." She whispered.

"Stressed out already? That's not good Rose."

She sighed. "I know."

Dave looked over as she sighed and looked back into the sky.

"We'll be fine. We have our whole lives ahead of us. It's scary, but we'll be good."

"Thanks Dave."

There was a beat, when suddenly a huge meteor flew across the sky.

"WOAHH!" John pointed into the sky excitedly.

"That was huge!"

"How huge?"

Jade sat up and glanced over at Dave. "Dave, don't start this. Didn't you just see it?"

"Yah, but I wanted to know just how big it was in your opinion. Like, are we gunna have to call the CIA or some shit? Was this like, Texas big, or fucking moon big or what?"

Jade plopped back onto the grass smiling. "Ugh, sometimes Dave."

A smile cracked Rose's pale lips.

_Cheers to starting anew. _

_************************************************** **********************88_

**Wow ok. So I didn't really think it was going to go this way at all…..but it did. I have to try anf coorodinate when I want filler and when I want plot….so hopefully if I do it right things wont be to rushed or too drawn out. Anyway.y…..thanks for reading. Anddd hopefully you picked up on the little easter eggs or hintity hint hints I threw in there lol.. they aren't terrible subtle…**


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